We Wear the Mask : 15 True Stories of Passing in America

Fifteen writers reveal their diverse experiences with passing--including racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender, and economic forms of passing. American history is filled with innumerable examples of "passing." Why do people pass? The reasons are manifold: opportunity, access, safety, adventure, agency, fear, trauma, shame. Some pass to advance themselves or their loved ones to what they perceive is a better quality of life. Edited by authors Brando Skyhorse and Lisa Page, We Wear the Mask is a groundbreaking anthology featuring fifteen essays--fourteen of them original--that examine passing in multifaceted ways. Skyhorse, a Mexican American, writes about how his mother passed him as an American Indian before he gradually learned and accepted who--and what--he really is. Page shares how her white mother didn't tell friends about her black ex-husband or that her children were, in fact, biracial. The anthology also includes essays by Marc Fitten, whose grandfather, a Chinese Jamaican, wanted to hide his name and ethnicity and for his children to pass as "colored" in the Caribbean; Achy Obejas, a queer Jewish Cuban woman who discovers that in Hawaii she is considered white. There's M. G. Lord, who passes for heterosexual after her lesbian lover is killed; Patrick Rosal, who, without meaning to, "passes" as a waiter at the National Book Awards ceremony; and Sergio Troncoso, a Latino man, who passes for white at an internship on Capitol Hill. These and other compelling essays reveal the complex reality of passing in America. Other contributors include: - Teresa Wiltz, who portrays how she navigated racial ambiguity while growing up in Staten Island, NY - Trey Ellis, the author of "The New Black Aesthetic," who recollects his diverse experiences with passing in school settings - Margo Jefferson, whose parents invite her uncle, a light-complexioned black man, to dinner after he stops passing as white - Dolen Perkins-Valdez, who explores how the glorification of the Confederacy in the United States is an act of "historical passing" - Gabrielle Bellot, who feels the disquieting truths of passing as a woman in the world after coming out as trans - Clarence Page, who interrogates the phenomenon of "economic passing" in the context of race - Susan Golomb, a Jewish woman who reflects on the dilemma of having an identity that is often invisible - Rafia Zakaria, a woman who hides her Muslim American identity as a strategy to avoid surveillance at the airport Why do people pass? Fifteen writers reveal their experiences with passing. For some, “passing” means opportunity, access, or safety. Others don’t willingly pass but are “passed” in specific situations by someone else. We Wear the Mask , edited by Brando Skyhorse and Lisa Page , is an illuminating and timely anthology that examines the complex reality of passing in America. Skyhorse, a Mexican American, writes about how his mother passed him as an American Indian before he learned who he really is. Page shares how her white mother didn’t tell friends about her black ex-husband or that her children were, in fact, biracial. The anthology includes writing from Gabrielle Bellot , who shares the disquieting truths of passing as a woman after coming out as trans, and MG Lord , who, after the murder of her female lover, embraced heterosexuality. Patrick Rosal writes of how he “accidentally” passes as a waiter at the National Book Awards ceremony, and Rafia Zakaria agonizes over her Muslim American identity while traveling through domestic and international airports. Other writers include Trey Ellis , Marc Fitten , Susan Golomb , Margo Jefferson, Achy Obejas , Clarence Page , Sergio Troncoso , Dolen Perkins-Valdez , and Teresa Wiltz . Editors' note College application essay #2 -- Brando Skyhorse Secret lives -- Achy Obejas The inscrutable Alexander Fitten -- Marc Fitten Letter to the lady who mistook me for the help at the National Book Awards, or some meditations on style -- Patrick Rosal Passing -- Teresa Wiltz Which lie did I tell? -- Trey Ellis Negroland -- Margo Jefferson Slipping into darkness -- Lisa Page Among the heterosexuals -- M. G. Lord On historical passing and erasure -- Dolen Perkins-Valdez Stepping on a star -- Gabrielle Bellot Class acts : ways to be something you're not -- Clarence Page Jewess in wool clothing -- Susan Golomb Passing ambition -- Sergio Troncoso Terror and passing -- Rafia Zakaria. "For some, "passing" means opportunity, access, or safety. Others don't willfully pass but are "passed" in specific situations by someone else. We Wear the Mask, edited by authors Brando Skyhorse and Lisa Page, is an illuminating and timely anthology of original essays that examines the complex reality of passing in America."-- Publisher **Fifteen writers reveal their diverse experiences with passing--including racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender, and economic forms of passing.**__We Wear the Mask__